SCHENCK, MYRON

SCHENCK, ORVIS, WINTER, DUNTON, WARD, HANNA, CARTER

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 8/4/2003 at 22:05:46

Biography reproduced from page 598 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Myron Schenck, who owns two hundred and eighty-seven acres of land in Union township, has long been actively identified with the agricultural and stock-raising interests of Kossuth county, of which he is a native. His birth occurred on the farm where he is now living on the 13th of August, 1858, and he is a son of Horace P. and Elizabeth (Orvis) Schenck. The father was born in Fulton, New York, on the 12th of February, 1822, but when he was a youth of eighteen years his people removed to Onondaga county, that state. The next year he went to Steuben county and obtained employment in a sawmill, but three years later he returned to Onondaga county, continuing to follow the same occupation until after his marriage. The mother was born in the vicinity of Burlington, Vermont, on the 28th of April, 1818. When four years of age she removed with her parents to Toronto, Canada, and there she was reared to womanhood. While on a visit at the home of her grandparents in Onondaga county, New York, she met Mr. Schenck, and on the 1st of June, 1845, they were married at Skaneateles, New York. They subsequently went to Baldwinsville and after residing here for four years removed to Oakfield, Wisconsin. They remained there a similar period, their next removal being to Cook county, Illinois, where they lived for three years. On June 2, 1856, they came to Kossuth county and located on a quarter section of land in Union township. Mr. Schenck industriously applied himself to improving and cultivating his holdings and after the close of the war extended the boundaries of his farm by the addition of another one hundred and sixty acres. On March 14, 1868, all of the buildings on his farm were destroyed by fire and two of his children, Alfred, aged eight years, and James, a little lad of four, were burned to death. On the 3d of October, 1894, Mr. Schenck passed away from injuries sustained in the cyclone of September 21, of that year. He had long survived the mother, whose death occurred on the 2d of April, 1889. The father was a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted September 1, 1864, in Company F, Second Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, and served until the close of hostilities. After his discharge he returned to Iowa and resumed farming, following this vocation until 1887, when he sold the remaining two hundred acres of his homestead to our subject and withdrew from active work. He continued to live on the farm, however, making his home with his son until his death. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Horace P. Schenck, now living are: Mrs. Mary A. Winter, of Bancroft, Iowa; Mrs. Ordelia Dunton, of Lebanon, Kansas; Mrs. Lydia Dunton, of Lebanon, Kansas; George of Le Roy, that state; Silas of Fort Pierce, South Dakota; Myron, our subject; and Mrs. Cyrus D. Ward, of Kossuth county.

The early years in the life of Myron Schenck were not unlike those of other lads who were reared in the rural districts of Iowa during the pioneer period. He attended the district schools in the acquirement of an education and was for some years a pupil of Benjamin F. Reed, of Algona, as was also his sister, Mrs. Cyrus D. Ward. After terminating his student days he assisted his father with the operation of the home place, and also worked for other farmers in the community until 1887, when he bought the old homestead. Later he purchased another quarter section which he retained for a short time and then sold, following which he bought a tract of eighty-seven acres adjoining his farm. All of the buildings on Mr. Schenck’s place, with the exception of a small granary, were destroyed in the cyclone of 1894, but they have since been replaced by substantial modern structures and he now owns one of the most attractive and best improved properties in the county. In connection with the cultivation of his fields, which annually yield abundant harvests, he raises stock of a good grade, and keeps fifty head of full-blooded Red Polled cattle, fifteen horses and markets fifty hogs per year.

On the 27th of October, 1887, Mr. Schenck married Miss Sadie Hanna, a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Carter) Hanna, natives of Lawrence county, Pennsylvania. The father, who was an agriculturist, removed with his family to Illinois in 1866 and farmed as a renter for five years. At the expiration of that time, in 1871, he came to Kossuth county and filed on the northwest quarter of section 6, Union township. He was diligent and enterprising in his methods and continued to add to his tract until he held the title to five hundred and sixty acres, which he cultivated until 1892, when he retired and removed to Burt. In 1910, he came to Algona and here he is still living. The mother, however, is deceased, her death occurring in Burt in 1908, after she had passed the sixty-seventh anniversary of her birth. Mr. Hanna is a veteran of the Civil war, having served for two years as a member of Company E, One Hundredth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, known as the “Round Head Regiment.” Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Schenck, as follows: Maude, who is attending school at Cedar Falls; Mildred, who is a student in the Algona high school; Lloyd H. who is seventeen, living at home; Alfred B., who is fifteen years of age, attending high school; Lois, who is looking forward to the tenth anniversary of her birth; and Horace P., who is five years old.

The family affiliate with the Congregational church, and fraternally Mr. Schenck is identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is republican in his political views, and has served for fifteen years as secretary of the school board, and he was assessor of Union township for one term. He is enterprising in matters of business and exercises clear judgment and sagacity in the direction of his undertakings, and is meeting with prosperity. He is a stockholder and director of Algona State Bank, and he also owns stock in the Algona Manufacturing Company and the Cooperative Creamery Company. Mr. Schenck is one of the highly esteemed citizens of his community, in the development and progress of which he takes an active and helpful interest, giving his cooperation and support to every worthy movement.

Kossuth Biographies maintained by Linda Ziemann.
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